APOD: Tardigrade in Moss (2013 Mar 06)

[Ann]

Chris, the stuffed toy you posted has got eyes, which the tardigrades seem to be lacking!

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

Chris, the stuffed toy you posted has got eyes, which the tardigrades seem to be lacking!

Ann- tardigrades have a pair of optical sense organs called eyespots, part of their ventral nervous system. Close enough for me.

[Beyond]

Chris, the stuffed toy you posted has got eyes, which the tardigrades seem to be lacking!

Ann- tardigrades have a pair of optical sense organs called eyespots, part of their ventral nervous system. Close enough for me.

Aye.

[Beyond]

At this url, http://ambergold.ru/news/219/367/Slow-w ... d,Blog_eng the 5-th picture down, is either a Tardigrade eating something, or sticking out a fat tounge.

[hotspot]

What is their known life span? Can they be crossbred?

And I guess another curious question could be... why exactly did Fobos-Grunt recently attempt to crash-land these Tardigrades onto the surface of Phobos? Very interesting detail really. Perhaps a better mission in the future could be to land a probe on Phobos (or Mars?) to detect if there are living, existing Tardigrades present?

[ErnieM]

I wonder if tardigrade are found to survive and thrive inside digestive organs of moss eating animals.

[ErnieM]

Hotspot wrote:

What is their known life span?

From Slow Walkers:

When environmental conditions start to deteriorate, tardigrades enter a latent state until conditions improve. A latent state is a state in which metabolism, growth and reproduction are reduced or cease temporarily while resistance to environmental extremes (cold, heat, drought, chemicals, ionizing radiation) increases. Tardigrades in a latent state can survive temperatures up to 272°C, high vacuums, ionizing radiation, outer space, and long periods with no oxygen. One tardigrade was revived from its latent state after 120 years! Since aging ceases in the latent state, entering a latent state can greatly increase the life span of the animal. Tardigrades have five routes which they employ to enter latency: encystment, anoxybiosis, cryobiosis, osmobiosis and anhydrobiosis.

[Ann]

At this url, http://ambergold.ru/news/219/367/Slow-w ... d,Blog_eng the 5-th picture down, is either a Tardigrade eating something, or sticking out a fat tounge.

Even more amazing is the third picture from the bottom, I think. This water bear has apparently "shriveled up" due to desiccation. But add some moisture, and hey presto, the water bear "comes alive" and becomes active again.

This is what water bears must look like when they are in the ice cold vacuum of space. As people have already pointed out in this thread, water bears do indeed wear their own space suits all the time. Their interiors can become completely dehydrated, but the water bears' thick hides allow the life processes in them to be on hold, rather than to be obliterated.

Amazing.

Ann

[larryshotland]

The photo of the tardigrade from March 6 looks artificial. Is
that really a natural tardigrade or a model? The nose ring
looked artifical and some of the "skin" looks like a canvas or
plastic and even the claws looked a little funny. I sent it to a lot of
people and many don't believe it's real. What's the story here?

[owlice]

Yes, it's a real tardigrade. Please click on all the links in the explanation. You'll see videos of tardigrades moving, other images, and find additional informative text.

[Ann]

Check out this link again, http://ambergold.ru/news/219/367/Slow-w ... d,Blog_eng. You can see that the tardigrades are full of really nasty pests which drill holes in the tardigrade's leather-like skin. One tardigrade, in the third picture from the top, is completely overwhelmed by parasites and appears to be either dying or dead.

The tardigrades are as wonderful as before, but they no longer seem so indestructible.

Ann

[MargaritaMc]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

It's life, Jim - but not as we know it...

I'm sorry. I've resisted the temptation for over two days!

Margarita

[Beyond]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

It's life, Jim - but not as we know it...

I'm sorry. I've resisted the temptation for over two days!

Margarita

Resistance was futile, eh Actually, after viewing it, IF i had it, I'd want to post it somewhere to get rid of it, in-a-hurry

[MargaritaMc]

It's life, Jim - but not as we know it...

I'm sorry. I've resisted the temptation for over two days!

Margarita

Resistance was futile, eh Actually, after viewing it, IF i had it, I'd want to post it somewhere to get rid of it, in-a-hurry

The depths of my appalling taste has yet to be plumbed...

[Beyond]

The depths of my appalling taste has yet to be plumbed...

haha, living in a vacation spot at the 'bottom' of the world, gives you an excuse. You've just got toooo much time on your hands But don't let that stop you from 'plumbing' the depths of your taste. Up north, we call that being zany, and as you may have already noticed, there are a few 'zany' posters that come and go around here. Makes things interesting

[iamlucky13]

Amazing creatures. I recently did a timelapse video of waterbears emerging from their dormant state "tuns".
I was amazed how fast they became active. I set the time lapse camera to go for 3 hours but they were already very active at less than 20 minutes !
http://youtu.be/rE-6c45DaiI

Really cool video. Thanks for sharing.

What magnification was this?

[iamlucky13]

someone at apod needs to explain the circular appendage by the mouth?
wikipedia does not show anything like that in the buccal tube area.
it looks like a computer generated image that has been photoshopped.

It is a scanning electron microscope image that has had color photoshopped in to replicate the actual environment, as electron microscopes produce black-and-white images.

Thank you for this helpful information. I continue to believe that intentionally running the risk of seeding extraterrestrial bodies with life forms from Earth is a very bad idea! I hope those in charge of future missions will reconsider.

It was considered in great detail, and they applied NASA's standards of planetary protection, including submitting their plans to NASA for review, to ensure accidental contamination would not result. Furthermore, Phobos is an environment inhospitable to life even for tardigrades. They might survive in their dormant state for a while if something went wrong, but they'd never be able to reproduce, and even in their dormant state would eventually die.

What is their known life span? Can they be crossbred?

And I guess another curious question could be... why exactly did Fobos-Grunt recently attempt to crash-land these Tardigrades onto the surface of Phobos? Very interesting detail really. Perhaps a better mission in the future could be to land a probe on Phobos (or Mars?) to detect if there are living, existing Tardigrades present?

The goal was not to crash-land. It was to soft-land, do an extensive study of Phobos, then return a soil sample to earth for study. The tardigrades were not the main mission. Just a tag-along.

We have other missions studying the surface of Mars as we speak. They're not specifically looking for life, because we're not actually expecting to find any on the surface in the present day, but they do have instruments that could give strong indicators life is there if they did encounter it.

[Ann]

Margarita, I'm still rolling on the floor!!!

Ann